A practical commentary, or an exposition with observations, reasons, and uses upon the first…A practicall commentary, or an exposition with observations, reasons, and vses upon the first…

Answ. 1. She could neither have sought after him, nor desired him, except she had had him.

2. When she sought him, and said, She found him not, she means, I found him not in that measure of peace and comfort, and fellowship I desired, but yet she had him, for she said, She sought him whom her soul loved. Secondly, Such a soul as it thus highly prizeth, and desireth, and hungers ⟨p. 383⟩after Christ, so it debased it self; the more we esteem him the more we debase our s•lves, the more we love him the less we love our selves; when Christ once revealed himself to J•b, Job 40.3. What laid he? Behold Lord, I am vile see▪ Job 42.4, 5. No soul that highly prizeth and affecteth Christ, but the more he disaffects and loathes himself, as unmeet to come into the presence of Christ, Isa. 6.4, 5. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts, the more he sees Christ, the more he abhors himself, as an unclean and abominable thing, that if he could, he would go out of himself; this self-denial is the first principle in Christianity, Luke 9.23.

2. When she sought him, and said, She found him not, she means, I found him not in that measure of peace and comfort, and fellowship I desired, but yet she had him, for she said, She sought him whom her soul loved. Secondly, Such a soul as it thus highly prizeth, and desireth, and hungers ⟨p. 383⟩